'Very Troubling' Footage of Airman's Shooting Released

A Florida deputy shot Senior Airman Roger Fortson multiple times before ordering him to drop his gun, body cam footage released by the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office shows. The footage shows that after the 23-year-old opened the door with a lowered firearm in his hand, the deputy told him to "step back" but opened fire immediately, giving him no time to respond, Military.com reports. After the fatally injured man was on the ground, the deputy shouted "drop the gun." Fortson replied, "I don't have it." "It's over there," he told the deputy. Fortson, who had been shot six times, later died in a hospital.

• Wrong apartment? The footage contradicts some of the account given by lawyers including civil rights attorney Ben Crump, the New York Times reports. Crump said the deputy burst into the wrong apartment without knocking or announcing himself. The footage shows that the deputy announced himself the second time he knocked. It also shows that a woman who said there had been a domestic disturbance directed the deputy to Fortson's apartment, No. 1401. Crump said his information came from Fortson's girlfriend, who had been on FaceTime with him when the deputy arrived. "We remain adamant that the police had the wrong apartment as Roger was on the phone with his girlfriend for a substantial amount of time leading up to the shooting, and no one else was in the apartment," his family said in a statement.

• "Very troubling." "It is very troubling that the deputy gave no verbal commands and shot multiple times within a split second of the door being opened, killing Roger," the family said in the statement released by Crump. "As the officer didn't tell Roger to drop the weapon before shooting, was the officer trained to give verbal warnings? Did the officer try to initiate life-saving measures? Was the officer trained to deal with law-abiding citizens who are registered gun owners?"
• "I can't breathe." CNN reports that Crump also released a portion of the FaceTime call. Fortson can be heard saying, "I can't breathe" as the officer shouts, "Stop moving!" The deputy can be heard telling somebody, "We're good. He had a gun since he opened the door."

• No cover-up, sheriff says. After the shooting last Friday, Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said the deputy "reacted in self-defense" after he encountered an armed man. He said Thursday that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is treating the matter as a criminal investigation. "This result is one we never hope to encounter," Aden said, per the AP. "These investigations take time, but I want to assure you that we are not hiding or attempting to cover anything up." The deputy has been placed on administrative leave. Fortson was Black; the deputy's race has not been disclosed.
• AIr Force is also investigating. Fortson, who lived in an off-base apartment in Fort Walton Beach, was an active-duty airman assigned to the Special Operations Wing at nearby Hurlburt Field. An Air Force spokeswoman told Military.com that the Air Force is "actively working in conjunction with local authorities to thoroughly investigate this incident and gather all pertinent facts related to this terrible tragedy."

(More police shooting stories.)